They want to be a strong player in M&A in a near future.They hired Thierry D'argent, former head of M&A France at JPM. He brought his desk along and he planned (or hired i don't know) various recruitments.Currently, SocGen is good for ECM / DCM / Loans syndics / Structured Finance but they're putting money on the table to hire top execs in their M&A teams.

"The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal reports that Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Bank is looking to hire up to 1,200 front-office and client facing staff over the next 3 years."

"A SG source has told Here Is The City that the 1,200 new hire target is accurate, although the only specific details available at present are that the bank will beef up fixed income front office by 200 and investment banking by the same amount in the next 3 years."

"The Wall Street Journal's Deal Journal reports that Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Bank is looking to hire up to 1,200 front-office and client facing staff over the next 3 years."

"A SG source has told Here Is The City that the 1,200 new hire target is accurate, although the only specific details available at present are that the bank will beef up fixed income front office by 200 and investment banking by the same amount in the next 3 years."

but i'm not in their M&A team. I'm working for the Export Finance Team, under corporate finance and investment banking structure. Is Societe Generale a well-known bank in North America? btw, i'm interning in China, how much value it can add to my resume under this scenario?

SG is better known as a powerhouse in equity derivatives, that's the capital markets side of the business....Then, in pure investment banking, they are not bad in M&A in Europe and are really willing to build up a strong franchise after they realized they were too focused on capital markets (kerviel, Madoff, etc...).

It's not a Lazard, Rothschild or big US franchise, so no huge brand attractiveness on that business part but at least you are sure there is only upside potential.From my perspective (I'm french), SG always put the means needed to reach their target.

May I ask which city in China? Standalone foreign banks are not allowed to do investment banking business in mainland unless it's a venture with a domestic securities firm (See GSGH, UBSS etc). Therefore I suspect your role will be in commercial banking, and from the name "Export Finance" the first thing goes into my mind is trade financing which is definitely commercial banking role that deals with L/C and stuff. Is this the case? If so it really provides minimal added value for your BB applications.

SGCIB is a global leader in export finance with recognized expertise in 23 export credit programs. The business line has strong presence in Asia with dedicated teams in Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, India and Vietnam.

The bank is the first foreign bank to arrange Chinese ECA financing with the support of Sinosure. With 16 deals signed, SGCIB has the most extensive experience and largest track record with Sinosure. We are also a leader in the Korean ECA market with over 30 deals signed. SGCIB is a pioneer in arranging shipping transactions with the support of KEIC (Korea) and JBIC/NEXI (Japan).

Export Finance group would be one or two steps up from plain vanilla trade finance/commercial banking as it deals with underwriting major ECA-backed deals (usually infra, energy, transportation) which may or may not have a structured finance component (asset-backed etc). Look at major recent deals backed by Chinese ECAs to get an idea what transactions you would work on. Depending on the deal/structure you could get some exposure to modeling which would be useful in the future.

What I can tell you is that Export Finance is within Global Finance, which includes ECM / DCM / Leverage & Non investment grade Finance / Strategic & Acquisition Finance / Media & Telecom Finance / Ship & Aircraft Finance & other Structured Finance departments.Another thing to know, SocGen's former Graduate analysts in Investment Banking had to choose three rotations among Structured Fi / Capital Markets & M&A, so you would be able to justify your internship in a way or another

Any finance position at a reputable firm would definitely help you with FT recruiting with the BB banks. Soc Gen, and the large foreign banks (BNP Paribas, Mizuho, Nomura, etc.) are well respected by actual bankers when they conduct FT interviews. The same goes for well-known MM and boutique banks. Every year you hear of interns at Jefferies getting offers at GS. And no, I have never worked for Jefferies.

Kids - do you think the glass ceiling is really an issue at the stage you're at in your career? Methinks not.

SG is puzzling... HSBC tried and failed to become an investment banking powerhouse; Credit Agricole was supposed to push into advisory / M&A and failed. Barcap was going nowhere fast but Lehmans purchase in the US has given it the impetus it needed. So jury's out.

Does anyone know anything about this group/firm? I have an SAsuperday this week and was wondering if anyone has interned here previously. From my first round I gathered that it is a very small group (something like 2 MD/2 VP/2 Associate/ 3 Analyst).

I think that they only take on 1 or 2 interns and often times don't give return offers because they don't have the capacity to. Can anyone shed light on this? Thanks!

SocGen has a good reputation in Equities in Europe (it's not UBS though), and in the Euro Capital markets (one of the first bookrunner in Euro bonds). Where they are the best is of course in Equity Derivatives, especially in structured products

Yea definitely agree with McMo, they hire everybody from the top engineering schools in France. If you want to work in M&A for them though, I am sure a high school diploma would be enough (in other words they are not tip top in that domain)

Remember, you will always be a salesman, no matter how fancy your title is.

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